Zubaz
Zubaz, also known by his nickname, The Baz, is a mysterious warrior who is theorized to be a God of some kind, wielding power of the storm, usually manifesting itself in the form of electric attacks. Zubaz was a rejected concept character for Street Fighter II, and became popularized and something of a mascot for the YouTube Let's Play franchise Two Best Friends Play, first appearing in their spin-off series Fighterpedia before making numerous other Best Friends related appearances. After gaining a significant fanbase for both the channel and the character, The Baz finally began to make real appearances in games, usually avoiding the full name of "Zubaz" to avoid trademark conflict with a likewise named clothing brand. History Divekick After years of being rejected from every fighting game and professional combat league for his odd gimmick and lack of cohesion with any other established style, The Baz sinks to his lowest of lows and attempts to join the Divekick tournament. While waiting for his letter of acceptance into the tournament, in order to support himself, The Baz was forced to take a job as a mercenary enforcer for Don Luo, who tells The Baz about Mr. N, a Divekick competitor who owed the Don a great sum of money. Seeking him out, The Baz demonstrated his signature fighting style to blast through Divekick competitor and champions alike- unlike most, The Baz didn't strike with his foot in a divekick, instead he created a trail of electricity behind his kicks that was used to knock out his foes. He also utilized his belts to swing in a Spider-Man like swing attack, and generate a blast of electricity on the ground. After defeating numerous foes, The Baz encounters Jefaily, who he recognizes as a tournament conductor with a history of hosting fights where Mr. N has competed. Demanding to know where N is, The Baz and Jefaily fight, with the Baz coming out on top. After overcoming numerous other competitors, The Baz finally catches up to Mr. N and devises a plan to sneak up on him from behind in the ring and keep him from fighting back, allowing The Baz to demand the Don's money without risking N retreating. As he approached however, the former fighter spotted him and in a cry of terror, attempted flee. Cursing his luck, The Baz quickly fought off and defeated the rotund fighter, taking the Don's money by force. His mission apparently complete, The Baz encountered S. Kill, a villainous force determined to rebalance all of Divekick. S. Kill taunted The Baz for his use of gimmicks and weapons, reminding him that the Divekick Circuit is for feet-fights. When The Baz asks if this is the reason he was rejected by all other fighting game organizations, S. Kill merely sneered in mockery, telling Baz he'd insure the man wouldn't make the cut in Divekick's sequel. The two engaged in an epic final Divekicking match, culminating in a narrow victory for The Baz, who returns home triumphant and having saved the Divekick Circuit. Shortly afterwards, he received his letter from the Circuit responding to his audition, but he was dismayed to discover that he was rejected, with the letter claiming that the game is named "Divekick" not "Electrocute People" and that Baz's actions had put three divekickers into comas, further asking that Baz never return. Breaking down into tears with a shout of "Rejected again!", The Baz ran away into the horizon. Shovel Knight The Baz is one of many Knights in the world of Shovel Knight. With a fearsome rope whip and the toughest-looking armor around, one might think that the traveling warrior Baz would be a shoe-in to join up with the Order of No Quarter. Imagine his surprise when he was rejected! He now roams the land, taking out his anger on passersby. Upon meeting Shovel Knight, he challenges him to a fight in order to prove himself strong enough to earn the title of “Baz Knight”. Shovel Knight manages to beat him with relative ease however, prompting him to throw a temper tantrum. In the Plague of Shadows DLC, Baz also comes across Plague Knight, who beats him with similar ease. However, Plague Knight may choose to recruit Baz as an apprentice alchemist. If he does, a robed Baz can be spotted in Plague Knight's underground research facility. Kaiju Combat Early in his career, Zubaz was a failed professional wrestler in the 1990's, where a series of comical accidents and an inability to make appointments ensured that his time as Wrestler was doomed to never take off, and made him a laughing stock in the Federations. After the discovery of the massive Kaiju monsters, a mysterious and rich benefactor offered The Baz a chance to make a real, tangible difference in the world- by providing his likeness and skills to a giant fighting robot named Mecha-Baz to battle the Kaiju. Zubaz agreed and began to undergo an intense physical and mental training regiment to prepare for the process in which Mecha-Baz was created. While the project was a tremendous success, cruel irony struck when it became apparent that there was no easy way to transport the Mech from place to place, meaning that he would be plagued by an inability to respond to Kaiju attacks on time. Driven to desperation The Baz sought help from anyone who could help salvage the project that bore his name, eventually finding a mysterious benefactor that had Mecha-Baz moved to an island in the Pacific where the robot was struck by lightning in a process that supercharged the Mech and granted it the ability to control and shoot blasts of electricity, as well as augmenting its strength, speed and fighting potential, at the cost of greatly reduced control. In combat, Mecha-Baz wields electricity which he can use to augment his melee techniques, generate projectiles from his inner power source and can siphon off electric power from nearby storm clouds. When he needs to get up close and personal with the Kaiju enemy, Mecha-Baz is capable of using an arsenal of destructive wrestling techniques including throws, grabs and drop kicks. Indivisible TBA Behind the Scenes Originally never meant to make an appearance in any video games, Zubaz was a throwaway piece of rejected concept art for one of the incarnations of Capcom's Street Fighter II series. After the art was discovered, the character design was latched on to by the member of the YouTube Two Best Friends Play team Woolie Madden, who crafted his catchphrase of "Can you feel the storm? It's coming!", and has used Zubaz as a custom playable character in numerous games with character creators in the channel's various let's plays and shows. The Baz made his debut in Divekick, as the Best Friends team donated enough money to the game when it was still a Kickstarter campaign to get their own character in it. While Iron Galaxy decided to publish Divekick themselves, canceling the Kickstarter, as a gesture of goodwill, they still followed through with the Rewards for the donations, including The Baz in the game as planned. Likewise, the Kickstarter campaigns for the fighting game Kaiju Combat and Mega Man style platformer Shovel Knight had enough money donated by the Best Friends to include a giant Zubaz Mech in the former and a medieval knight version of the character the latter. Similarly, the Best Friends team also donated enough in Indivisible's campaign to include Baz as a boss. Since Baz's regular look would seem out of place in Indivisible's universe, a poll was hosted with three alternative designs by ZONE, Cranky Construct, and Plague of Gripes to see which one would be added to the game. Appearances * Divekick (2013) * Shovel Knight (2013) * Kaiju Combat (TBD) * Indivisible (TBD) * Slipstreamhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/732810/Slipstream/ (2018) Category:Characters Category:Playable Characters Category:Fighting Category:Joke Characters Category:Bosses